Effect of Treated Cowpea Seeds on Broiler Chicken

Abstract

Poultry investment became one of the most important farming activities in Sudan. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of dietary treated cowpea seeds on the performance of broiler chicks. Four rations were formulated that contained 0 cowpea for the control diet (A) and 15% cowpea for the three tested rations. The test diets contained cowpea soaked with no enzyme addition (B), soaked with enzyme addition (C) or roasted (D). One hundred and sixty unsexed chicks were used in a complete randomized design. The results indicated that roasted seeds contained low crude protein, ether extract, crude fiber, ash and metabolizable energy than soaked seeds, while it contained high nitrogen free extract than soaked seeds. Treatment differences had no significant effects on weekly and overall feed intake. There were only significant differences on weight gain in third and fourth weeks. Chicken  fed diet C gained the highest weight in week (3267.6) while chicken fed diet C and D gained the highest weight in week 4 (350.6 and 354.1g). Overall weight gain in the four treatments was not significantly different (1598.2 -1737.2 g). Treatments significantly affected feed conversion ratio in week 3 and 4 only diet C and D showed best results in the two weeks than the control and D diet. Over all feed conversion ratio was significantly better for chicks fed cow pea incorporated diets than those fed the control diet (2.40 vs. 2.60 kg feed / kg weight).